48443 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord,.... Fell into idolatry again, which was a great evil in the sight of God, and what they were prone to fall into: and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel; put it into his heart to invade them, and encouraged him to it, and gave him success; what kings...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek,.... Either the Lord gathered them to Eglon, inclined them to enter into a confederacy with him, to assist in the war against Israel; or the king of Moab got them to join with him in it, they being his neighbours, and enemies to Israel, and especially Amalek: and went and smote Israel;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. Ten years longer than they served the king of Mesopotamia, Judges 3:8, as a severer correction of them for their relapse into idolatry.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,.... After being long oppressed, and groaning under their burdens, and brought to a sense of their sins, and humiliation for them, they asked forgiveness of God, and deliverance from their bondage; for it is very probable they were until towards the close of those years stupid and hardened, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But Ehud made him a dagger, which had two edges, of a cubit length,.... A little sword, as Josephus calls it (y), with two edges, that it might cut both ways, and do the execution he designed by it, and was about half a yard long; which he could the more easily conceal, and use for his purpose: and he did gird it under his raiment; that it might...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he brought a present unto Eglon king of Moab,.... Accompanied by two servants, as Josephus says (b), and who doubtless bore the presents; for that there were such with him that did is clear from Judges 3:18; nor can it be thought that so great a personage as a judge in Israel should go alone and carry a present in his own hands; though it is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when he had made an end to offer the present,.... Had delivered the several things contained in it, and very probably made a speech to the king in the name of the people of Israel from whom he brought it: he sent away the people that bare the present; not the servants of Eglon that introduced him, as if they assisted in bringing in the present...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But he himself turned again from the quarries that [were] by Gilgal,...., For so far he accompanied the men that came with him. These quarries were places where they dug stones and hewed them, according to the Targum, and most Jewish writers; but some render the word "engravings", and understand them of inscriptions engraved on pillars here, which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Ehud came unto him,.... Somewhat nearer him than he was before; it seems probable that Eglon retired from the presence chamber, where he received company, into his summer parlour; which was smaller and more private, and in which he had used to be alone, as follows, and whither Ehud went in unto him, as he directed him: and he was sitting in a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh,.... Being, as before observed, a lefthanded man; Judges 3:15, and this he could the better do, without being taken notice of by the king, who, if he saw him move his left hand, would have no suspicion of his going to draw a dagger with it, and which also was hidden under...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the haft went in, after the blade,.... The handle of the dagger, as well as the blade; so strong and violent was the thrust, he determining to do his business effectually; and the fat closed upon the blade; being an excessive fat man, the wound made by the dagger closed up at once upon it, through the fat: so that he could not draw the dagger...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Ehud went forth through the porch,.... Which the Targum interprets by "exedra", a place, as Kimchi, where there were many seats, either for the people to sit in while waiting to have admittance into the presence of the king, or where the guards sat, and may be called the guard room; through this Ehud passed with all serenity and composure of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When he was gone out, his servants came,.... When Ehud was gone through the porch, and out of the palace, the servants of Eglon, who had been put out, came to the parlour door to reassume their former place, and finish their business with the king, or in order to wait upon him as usual: and when they saw that behold the doors of the parlour [were]...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they tarried until they were ashamed,.... And knew not what to think of it, or what methods to take to be satisfied of the truth of the matter, and what should be the meaning of the doors being kept locked so long: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; this was what surprised them, and threw them into this confusion of mind,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Ehud escaped while they tarried,.... While the servants of the king of Moab tarried waiting for the opening of the doors of the parlour, this gave him time enough to make his escape, so as to be out of the reach of pursuers; or else the sense is, that even when they had opened the doors, and found the king dead, while they were in confusion at...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, when he was come, That is, to Seirath, Judges 3:26, in the tribe of Ephraim: that be blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim; which being an high mountain, the sound of the trumpet was heard afar off; and if Ehud's design was known to the Israelites, what he intended to do, this might be the token agreed on, should he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said unto them, follow after me,.... This he said to encourage them, putting himself at the head of them showing himself ready to expose his own life, if there was any danger: for the Lord hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hands; which he concluded from the success he had had in cutting off the king of Moab which had thrown...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men,.... Who had been sent into the land of Israel to keep it in subjection, or had settled themselves there for their better convenience, profit, and pleasure; it is very probable there were some of both sorts: all lusty, and all men of valour; the word for "lusty" signifies "fat", living in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel,.... Or the Moabites were broken, as the Targum, that is, their forces in the land of Israel; for the land of Moab itself was not subdued and brought into subjection to the Israelites; but they were so weakened by this stroke upon them, that they could not detain the Israelites under their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath,.... That is, after the death of Ehud, when the people of Israel were in distress again from another quarter, this man was raised up of God to be a judge and deliverer of them; but who he was, and who his father, and of what tribe, we nowhere else read: which slew of the Philistines six hundred men; who...